


White Lilacs

by Briana_Dubs



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Complete, DONE DONE DONE, Don't yell at me, F/M, Flowers, Human Loki, It's done, Loki owns a flower shop, M/M, NINE HUNDRED AND FORTY KUDOS??? YOU GUYS ARE NUTS, Sadness, Slice of Life, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!, Tony is a playboy, Tony still owns Stark industries, and Loki is his brooding handsome brother that everyone also loves, and Thor is a giant muscular man that everyone loves, and also an idiot, but he's not a superhero, flower shop au, he's just a genius, implied suicidal thoughts, sad flower boys, suffer, this fic is finished
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-06-05 14:44:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15172928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Briana_Dubs/pseuds/Briana_Dubs
Summary: It wasn’t like Loki was ungrateful for him keeping his shop floating, but all he ever bought were roses!---I just really liked that for the title. It's a flower shop AU, so it seemed appropriate.:)





	1. Chapter 1

Oh my _God_. He was here again.

_Again!_

The same guy with the goatee was in Loki’s shop for the thirtieth day in a row. Thirty days.

It wasn’t like Loki was ungrateful for him keeping his shop floating, but all he ever bought were roses! If the guy was going to come in every single day and buy flowers, why couldn’t he buy something more interesting? Why always the stupid roses?

When the now overly familiar man stepped up to the counter, Loki almost didn’t hold back his groan. The man was grinning brightly at him, almost like he didn’t realize Loki wished he would just go away, and said “Hi again!”

“The usual?” Loki asked, already turning away from the man.

“You know me so well.”

This time Loki did groan. He was moving to get the stupid red flowers for the guy with an irritated scowl. “Why do you need so many roses every day? And why roses? Why not something else?” He glanced back at the man, holding the stem of a sunflower in his fingers, lifting it to offer another option.

“I have dates,” the man replied, looking confused. “Chicks love roses… And red’s my favorite color…”

Loki let the sunflower go. “Dates,” he repeated. “You have… dates.”

The man beamed at him, winking and lowering his sunglasses. “Different lady every night. Not too shabby, huh?” He was snickering a little as he asked, leaning forward with one elbow propped on the desk and waggling his eyebrows.

“How do you not have fifty STDs?”

The man’s smile dropped flat. “Hey!” he snapped the sunglasses up on top of his head. “I use protection!” He whined, sounding like his pride had been wounded. Loki rolled his eyes. The man scowled at him. “Look, pal, just because you’re jealous of me doesn’t mean you have to say mean shit to me!”

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Loki frowned. His little flower shop was by no means fancy. He wasn’t a rich man, but he wasn’t poor. He had a nice, comfortable life here in New York and he had lots of wonderful old ladies who would come in and talk to him about their gardens. He could read whenever he wanted, he could take a day off and not worry about a boss screaming at him, and he didn’t have to worry about living up to family expectations or not living up to them. With all these happy thoughts in mind, Loki smirked at the man.

“Why on earth would I be jealous of you?” he spit back, eyes gleaming.

The man’s scowl, still in place, slowly began to fade from his face. He blinked a few times and let his own crossed arms fall to his sides. “Oh my God,” he breathed, jaw going a bit slack. “You really don’t know who I am, do you?”

Loki shrugged.

“Am I supposed to?” he asked, looking down at his fingernails and picking at his thumb absently.

“Uh, kinda!” The man pulled his sunglasses completely off of his head now and stepped forward. To Loki it looked like he was about to give him a speech. He really hoped he wouldn’t.

“You heard of Tony Stark?”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Oh, am I meant to believe that _you_ are billionaire Tony Stark?” When the man just stared at him, Loki continued. “And you just chose to come into my tiny flower shop by chance? If you’re so rich, why wouldn’t you just order yourself an entire rose garden? Why would Tony Stark bother coming into my shop of all places?”

“Uh, maybe because every time he ordered flowers online they always came smashed to hell and back?” The man offered, throwing his arms open wide. “Maybe because one of his dates had mentioned this store and said it had the prettiest flowers she had ever seen? Maybe because, gee I don’t know, Tony Stark was tired of being Tony Stark and getting the highest prices thrown in his face because everybody knows he’s rich as shit and was hoping if he went into a little flower shop on the corner he might get lucky and get treated like everybody else? Any of those sound good to you?!”

Loki’s arms had fallen to his sides as Tony Stark, yes that was definitely Tony Stark how didn’t he realize that the first time he walked into the shop- he offered three hundred dollars for two dozen roses for fuck sake, shouted at him and stepped closer still. Yeah. Yeah, definitely Tony Stark. Fuck. He felt like such an idiot.

When Tony stopped yelling, he stood there glowering up at Loki. After a beat of silence, he threw his arms wide again and asked, “ _Well?!_ ”

Loki didn’t take a step back. He instead took a moment to look at the billionaire. He was smaller than he had thought he’d be. He looked so much taller in all his photos. He also looked tired. Loki noticed the bags under his eyes and wondered if that was why he always wore the glasses in the shop. And here he had thought it was just a quirk or an attempt to look cool.

After staring for what was probably too long, Loki smirked. “You still could buy something more interesting than roses.”

That caught Stark off guard. His head flinched back and his body followed slowly. He faltered a step back and blinked at Loki a few times, confusion practically stamped across his face.

“Seriously?” Was the first word he said. “Seriously…? You just found out I’m a filthy rich inventor with five mansions across the country, an entire company named after me, and an entire online fanbase and that’s all you have to say?”

Loki shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to some white carnations. “You could give her these. They’re supposed to be endearing,” he suggested, lifting one up by the stem to show him. “I would assume a lady being wooed by Tony Stark would expect to be given a wide variety. Perhaps she would like Jasmine? They smell lovely.”

Stark laughed. He laughed out loud and put his sunglasses back on. “Wow, so you really don’t give a fuck who I am…” When Loki shook his head no, the inventor grinned. It was a mischievous smile, as if there was some horrid prank in his head that he wasn’t sharing. “Cool. Cool. I respect that.” Now that his glasses were in place, he sauntered over to where Loki was peering down at the flowers. “How ‘bout something pink? Ladies like pink, right?”

Loki rolled his eyes and groaned with a smile. “As long as you don’t get more red roses I will be happy to indulge in whatever preconceived ideas about women you may have.” Stark shoved his arm playfully for that. “I’ll have you know my mother has always hated the color pink. She much prefers yellow.”

“Shit,” Tony cursed, eyes going to the sunflowers now, “Then maybe I better take you up on that sunflower offer. Don’t wanna risk my date is like your _mom_.”

In the end Tony left with a huge bouquet of sunflowers, orange tulips, little pops of baby’s breath, and, to Loki’s chagrin, red roses. Tony stood by his statement that women loved roses. Loki had simply shrugged and rolled with it. When it came time to pay, Tony had pulled out a few bills that looked suspiciously like hundreds to Loki and asked how much. Loki gave him the same price he would give anyone and that had made Stark pause.

He looked up from his wallet, smiling. “You really are sticking by this whole not caring thing, huh?”

Loki rolled his shoulders slowly and punched at the register a bit. “I didn’t recognize you until you took off the glasses,” he admitted, “And you have them back on again, so I think I’ll pretend I still don’t know who you are.”

There was a moment of quiet after he said that, and Loki was too nervous not to look up and see if Stark looked okay. He felt himself shrink back a bit when he saw the smile on the inventor’s face. It was like looking into the sun. He kind of wished he had sunglasses for himself. He looked so happy… Like someone had just promised him all his wildest wishes were about to come true. Loki tried to look away a few times, but only managed to glance away for a brief second before his gaze was drawn back up to the happy, handsome man.

“You know, for a weird flower guy who said some really mean shit to me today, you’re all right,” Tony said. He let go of his wallet with his right hand and extended it. It took Loki longer than he’d like to admit to realize that he was offering him a handshake. When he did take Stark’s hand he was sure his cheeks were pink with how hot they felt. “You said your name was Loki, right?”

Clearing his throat and yanking at his shirt collar, Loki nodded. “Yeah,” he coughed, “Yeah, my name’s Loki.”

Once he let go of his hand, Tony picked up the bouquet and left a bill much too large on the counter. He gave a little salute as he backed toward the door. “You’re all right, Loki! You’re all right!”

“Thanks?”

“I’ll see ya around!”

* * *

 

Loki was kind of surprised he didn’t see Stark in the shop the next day. Or the day after. It was on day three when he finally returned to his little corner of the world.

Since his visit, Loki had of course told his mother and brother about it. Turned out his brother met Stark the day after when Thor ran into him while jogging. Thor said he fractured Stark’s wrist.

Loki would have told his friends if he had anyone he really considered a friend. He had a few close acquaintances, and the little old ladies who frequented his shop were nice, but nobody was really scrambling to be friends with him. He didn’t really mind. Small amounts of social interaction at the shop and alone time to read were fine with him.

Seeing Stark walk into the shop with his arm in a sling only made a grin slide across Loki’s face. He had to clear his throat a few times to make it go away.

“What’s with the arm?” he asked, pointing at the red fabric.

Tony flicked his sunglasses up to his forehead. “Some huge fucking guy tackled me in Central Park,” he said. “Guy must have weighed three hundred pounds. And like, _all_ of it was muscle.”

Loki chuckled at that comment. His brother was by no means a small man. He had been on the receiving end of all that muscle many times in his youth.

“Actually, according to his BMI he’s about eighty eight percent muscle.” Stark’s neck snapped to him so fast Loki was momentarily afraid he’d broken it.

“Ex-fucking-scuse me?!”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Oh, relax, I didn’t hire anyone to manhandle you. That was my brother who ran into you- he told me all about it on the phone the other day.”

Tony was gawking.

“ _That_ was your _brother!?_ ” He shrieked, motioning with his uninjured thumb toward the door behind him. As if that conveyed where Central Park was. Loki nodded. “Seriously!? The guy who looked like a walking god!? Mister tall, blond and muscular!? _That_ was your brother!?”

“His name is Thor, if that makes you feel any better.”

“Oh my fucking God- he’s named after a fucking god, this is like some sort of horrible reality show!” Tony was wailing and flailing, going up to slump over the counter by where Loki sat.

Loki chortled at his antics. “Our parents were fond of ancient Norse myths.” As if that made it normal.

Tony’s head snapped up. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. “ _Thor_ and _Loki_ oh my GOD!”

“I take it your date went well?” Loki changed the subject expertly if he may say so himself. Judging by Tony’s smile, he would say he was right.

“It was great!” he said, eyes bright. “And you’ll never guess what she said when I gave her the flowers!” Loki didn’t respond, he simply let his eyebrows rise a fair distance and waited. “She said ‘Oh I’m so glad you didn’t just get roses, those are so cheesy!’ I shit you not!”

Loki, with a single laugh, lowered his head and spread his arms as if offering himself up and saying ‘what did I tell you?’ without actually saying it.

Tony was still grinning. He reached his free hand out to pat at Loki’s arm. “We went on three dates! That’s the most I’ve had with the same person in years!” He sounded so proud of that fact. Loki just looked at him like he had three heads. “I owe you one, man!”

Loki frowned. “Wait, you said three… It’s been two days since I last saw you…”

Tony held up his hand. “One- that night,” he held up one finger, “Two- the next night,” he held up the second, “Three- yesterday.” He wiggled the three fingers in Loki’s face. “Three dates.”

“Ah, you’re right.” He watched Stark lower his hand to poke at some of the brochures he had on the counter. “I take it tonight you’re going out with someone new, though?”

The inventor nodded. “Yeah… My last date thought my fractured wrist was too funny to ignore, so I’m gonna go to a dinner with my CEO until I find a new pretty face to sleep with.”

“Ugh,” Loki visibly gagged. He pushed himself to stand and walked toward the flowers he had displayed. He paused in front of them long enough for Tony to get up and follow. “So,” he started, “What does your CEO like?”

“Uhhhh,” Tony hummed and rubbed at his chin. “I think she likes blue?” Loki gave him a look. “What!?” Tony asked.

“You don’t know what she likes?” Loki asked, sounding disappointed enough that Stark pouted in response. “She’s your CEO and you don’t know what she likes…?”

“Well she wears blue a lot,” Tony said, looking at some bluebells. Loki swatted at his hand. “Ow!”

“You are not getting her bluebells. You’re going to give her daisies, larkspur, and anything but roses.”

“What about white ones?”

“No.”

“Mini white ones?”

“No roses.” Loki was firm as he plucked up flowers to put together in a bunch. Tony pouted and watched him clip stems to good lengths.

“What’s larkspur supposed to mean in flower talk?” Tony asked as Loki wrapped up the blue and white bouquet.

“Fickleness,” Loki said, relishing the offended look on Stark’s face. “Oh, don’t give me that, you came in here for a new date every single night for thirty days. Fickle is the nicest thing I could call you.”

After opening and closing his mouth a few times, Tony sighed and let his shoulders drop. “That’s fair.”

As he handed the bouquet over to the billionaire, Loki spoke. “Shall I tell Thor that you say hello?”

“Fuck you, Lokes,” Tony sang as he marched out the shop door.

* * *

 

Loki was going to close up shop early today. He had already turned the sign around to let people know he was closed. Now he was just sweeping up and throwing away any stem scraps he might have missed.

He heard a thud noise before the sound of the door rattling. Looking up, Loki almost wasn’t surprised to see Stark was the one who seemed oblivious to the sign in the door. Sighing, he walked over and unlocked it, pulling it open long enough for Stark to enter and then locking it behind him again.

“Woah, locking me in?” Stark spun around, smirking. “Don’t want anyone interrupting us?”

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself,” Loki said, walking away to resume sweeping. “I’m not sure if those sunglasses do something to your vision, but the sign did in fact say ‘closed’ you know.”

Tony looked back at the door for a moment before looking back at Loki. “Sorry, didn’t see it.”

“Clearly.”

“I need a favor.”

Loki paused in his stooping down to get a large leaf off the floor. “Oh dear God, what have I done…?” Tony huffed loudly from where he stood and Loki grinned at him. “What favor do you need from me?”

“Do you know how to make a boutonniere?” At the question, Loki scoffed. “It’s not for me,” Tony quickly said. Loki paused in rolling his eyes to quirk up a brow.

“Not for you?”

“It’s for my kid,” Tony said. Now Loki was sure his eyebrows were in his hairline. He had a kid? He was sure that would have been something he would have heard about. Tony Stark having a child would be huge news. “Oh, for fuck sake,” Tony groaned, “He’s not actually my kid!”

“Oh thank God.”

“Shut up.” Tony pulled out his phone and flipped through it before showing Loki a picture of a boy who looked to be a teenager with messy brown hair. “His name’s Peter. He’s kinda my protégé. I’m teaching him about tech.” He was smiling fondly now. “Brilliant kid, really, you should see what he can do. Anyway, his prom is tonight and I wanted to make sure he had a boutonniere to match his date’s dress.”

Loki stood up straighter. “What color?”

“Pink.”

Loki resisted the urge to gag, but set to work anyway. He ended up making three before finally deciding on which one was the most perfect for the big night. He handed it to Tony as delicately as possible, the light plastic around it crinkling a little bit. He smiled when he noticed Tony’s eyes watering. “I hope you take a photo of Peter and his date.”

Tony had to take a deep breath before he spoke. He tilted his head back and bit his lower lip. “Ye-ah” his voice still broke. “Yeah, I’ll take a bunch. I’ll- I’ll show them to you the next time I’m here.”

Loki went and unlocked the door so Stark could rush out to the waiting limousine. “Thanks, Loki! I owe you one!” Stark called before he sped off.

* * *

 

The pictures were incredibly sweet. Peter looked like the typical nervous teenager going on his first date with someone he liked. There were a few pictures in the bunch of him and Stark together, but those were just so endearing and cute that Loki didn’t say anything when Stark showed them to him.

“He looks happy,” Loki said when Tony finally reached the last picture. Loki had never gone to his own prom. It just hadn’t appealed to him. He didn’t have a date and his friends didn’t want to go either so he just never went. And nobody cared. The world still turned. He would never understand why so many adults thought teenagers not going to prom was like some sort of death sentence.

Tony looked just as happy as Peter did in all the photos. “He was really happy,” he said, “And the boutonniere matched perfectly, did you see?” He pointed at the pictures again.

“I saw,” Loki said with a fond smile. “They look like the perfect little couple.”

Tony nodded, biting his hand to keep the little squeak he let out from being too loud. There were other customers in the shop at the moment. Though most of them had stopped everything when they saw Tony fucking Stark walk inside. Loki could see them staring, he tried not to let it show on his face. “I gave him the sex talk, though, don’t you worry.”

“Oh my God,” Loki went bright red and hid his face, but still found himself laughing. “As if you’re one to talk, Mister Playboy.”

“Hey, sixteen is way too young to be getting into Playboy status!”

Nodding with a few more chuckles, Loki agreed. Tony had to move eventually, because one of the little old ladies that Loki adored so much wanted to pay for her flowers. She had extremely poor vision, so Loki didn’t question the way she failed to recognize Stark. While Loki took care of her, Stark wandered around the shop. He was quickly overtaken by the other shoppers, who began asking him questions in hushed voices and asking for pictures and autographs.

“Lilacs again, eh Eunice?” Loki asked, tying the little purple ribbon into a bow. The silver haired woman nodded and cooed about how she just loved the way they smelled as she dug through her purse to pay. Loki never would correct her if she gave him too little for the flowers. She couldn’t really see the bills. He always made sure to stop her when she gave him too much, though. He wasn’t about to swindle the grandmother out of her money. Once she had gathered up her things she gave Loki’s cheek a little pat like always and was on her way.

“She’s cute,” Tony said from Loki’s left.

Loki smiled at the inventor. “One of my favorite customers.”

“I love her. Can I adopt her as my grandma?”

Laughing, Loki moved to the next customer. “I’m not sure that’s legal.”

“Damn.”

* * *

 

“So, uh… What kind of flowers do you like, Lokes?”

The question had startled Loki. Stark had been poking at everything in the shop for an hour now and hadn’t bought anything. He turned his gaze to the inventor and quirked a brow up. “What kinds I like?”

Tony shrugged and tugged at the leaves of a lily. “Yeah, I mean, you know… You’re the flower guy… Do you have any favorites?”

Loki straightened out and thought about it for a moment. “I’ve always been rather fond of daffodils, I suppose… My mother’s like for yellow must have rubbed off on me, there…” He tapped his fingers against his leg for a moment. “I’ve always liked lilacs, as well. Eunice isn’t wrong, they do smell heavenly.” Tony snickered at the mention of the old woman. “White ones have always been my favorite among those… And… Well, I’ve always liked the look of Indian blankets… Something about the red fading to yellow-gold has always been appealing to me.”

He was smiling at the lights in the ceiling as he thought about why those were his favorites. He heard Tony clear his throat and looked back at the inventor.

“Yes, Anthony?”

Tony threw his arms out wide. “You’re not gonna ask me my favorite flowers?”

“Two dozen red roses. Every day. For thirty days.”

With a huff, Tony let his arms fall. “Point taken.” He tugged at the lilies again. “I kind of like daffodils, too, though.” Loki couldn’t hold back his smirk at the other man. Tony was pointedly not looking at him. He was very much on purpose looking away.

“If I had to pick a rose I detested least, I suppose it would be red ones.”

Tony spun around to beam at him and Loki couldn’t help but smile back.

* * *

 

Loki hadn’t really wanted to go on a jog with Thor that morning, but when his brother began his whining and his puppy dog eyes, he knew he was powerless to say no. So he was out, jogging in sunlight that was much too harsh, sweating like a pig, and trying to ignore how many people were staring at him and his brother. Actually probably just his brother. Thor _was_ jogging shirtless after all.

The two of them had paused by the stupid giant fake lake to catch their breath and drink some water. As Loki lifted up his shirt to wipe his face, he felt Thor smack his arm and heard him exclaim in delight, “Look! Look, there’s Stark!”

Loki lowered his shirt enough to look the way Thor was pointing. He was also waving with big, huge motions, but Loki chose to ignore the giant arm swinging near his face. Instead he focused on Stark, noticing how red his face was. The inventor had reached his hand up to snap his sunglasses down onto his face, but had instead knocked them off his head and was now fumbling to pick them up off the ground. He looked unbelievably embarrassed and it made Loki grin like the devil. He saw Tony drop his glasses again when he looked back up at him.

“He still comes to your shop, right?” Thor asked, looking much too happy. But Loki indulged him.

“Almost every day,” he replied, pulling his shirt out to flap some air over his gross sweaty chest, and then let it move back to him. Thor was practically squealing.

“So you’re friends, right!?”

Loki shrugged. “If he comes over here to say hello, I’d say we are.”

And almost as if he heard him, here came Stark. Still looking flustered, but walking over to the two of them with as much confidence as he could muster.

“Ah-huh-hey, Lokes,” Tony greeted, none too elegantly, once he reached them. He had coughed halfway through that and Loki had snorted in response to his nervousness. Seemed like his brother even affected a ladies’ man like Stark the same way he affected everyone else. Tony cleared his throat loudly. “Th-Thor.”

Thor offered his hand and Tony shook it stiffly. “Stark! It’s so good to see you again! My brother tells me your hand healed nicely! I’m glad! I really am sorry for running into you- I just didn’t see you and I was so focused on my run and-“

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine big guy,” Tony said, pulling his hand back and squaring his shoulders up. “No hard feelings.” He cleared his throat again. “So, uh… Loki, you uh… You jog?”

“Not really,” Loki said, popping his water bottle open. “Thor wouldn’t stop whining so I went with him today.”

“Oh.” Tony nodded, looking at the lake for a moment. “Guess that’s why I never see you here. You know… Jogging…”

After taking a swig of his drink, Loki wiped his mouth. Stark watched him, almost looking scared. “I prefer reading to physical activity,” he said, “But occasionally I do indulge my brother in his need for competition.”

“Hey!” Thor whined, looking at his brother with his sad baby blues. Loki only rolled his own eyes at him and took another drink.

“I’m surprised you’re not being mobbed right now, Stark,” Loki said, “You’re not even trying to hide your face.”

“Oh, yeah, um, well, I’ve got bodyguards following me.” He motioned over his shoulder to the man almost as big as Thor standing a little ways behind him. Loki laughed when he saw him. He should have known.

Looking at his watch, Loki sighed. “Well, I suppose that’s all the break we have. Thor, we have another three miles to run. Ready?”

“Of course! Always ready!”

As he and his brother turned to continue their run, Loki called over his shoulder to Tony. “I’m sure I’ll see you at the shop, Stark!”

“Oh, uh, yeah! Yeah, I’ll be there! Tomorrow! Tomorrow for sure!”

* * *

 

Loki looked at the flowers Tony had picked today. He stared at them. He thought maybe he could burn them if he looked at them hard enough.

“No.”

Tony faltered. “Wha- whaddyou mean ‘no’? Why not? What’s wrong with them?”

Loki looked up at him, completely unamused. He inhaled deeply and let the air out slowly.

He began by picking up individual flowers from the bunch. “Daffodils.” He let the flower drop. “White lilacs.” Another drop. “Indian blankets.” One more drop. “Red roses.” The final drop.

He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled up at Tony. Tony, who was visibly sweating and wringing his shirt in his hands and worrying his lower lip.

“If this is some sort of joke, it isn’t funny, Stark,” Loki bit. “Put the flowers back and pick real ones for your stupid date.”

“I-it isn’t a joke!” Tony quickly jumped forward, putting a hand over Loki’s when he tried to push the bundle away. When Loki’s cold stare leveled with his face, Tony swallowed hard. His hand was sweating. Taking in a deep breath, Tony spoke again. “It’s not a joke, Loki… I… I was kind of… Well, I had just. I guess what I’m trying to say is…”

Slowly Loki’s scowl fell into a look of shock. Realization washed over him like ice water and it left him with goosebumps. “Stark.” He interrupted the rambling man. “Are you asking me on a date?”

Stark exhaled loudly and his entire body relaxed. “Oh, thank God, you have no idea how hard that was.”

Laughing a little, Loki tilted his head to the side. “Why?”

“Why was it hard?”

“Why are you asking me on a date?” Loki clarified.

“Oh,” Tony quickly let go of Loki’s hand and stepped back, hands returning to tug at his shirt. “Well, uh… You, um… You’re not exactly _bad looking_. And, uh, you… Well you’re really funny. And you’re smart. And you don’t take anybody’s shit. And when you found out who I was you didn’t treat me any different and I… I really liked that.” Loki would never admit he was preening under the compliments, but he was. He one hundred percent was. “And you helped me with Peter when I asked, even though you were closed. And- and…” Now Tony’s face was going bright red and it made Loki wonder what he was thinking.

“And when I saw you in Central Park and you lifted up your shirt I very near pissed myself.”

Loki laughed out loud. He had to clutch his side to keep himself from crying he was laughing so hard.

“Shut up!” Tony whined, smacking his chest.

Loki didn’t stop laughing though. “Oh my God!” Loki was trying to calm his breathing and failing. It was too fucking funny. “You weren’t looking at Thor, oh my _GOD!_ ” He wiped at his eyes, a few tears clinging to his lashes. “Oh, he’s going to be so upset that you weren’t nervous because of him.”

Tony blinked probably at least a thousand times before his brain registered what Loki had said.

“You thought I was freaking out over _Thor_!?” Tony all but shrieked. “Fuck, Loki, I already knew your brother was built like a god! I was freaking out that day because I found out you are too!”

Loki’s laughter died at that. He stared up at Tony and felt his face heat up.

“You really think so?”

Tony scoffed. “Dude, have you seen your abs? You are _cut_.”

After they both took a moment to calm down, Tony leaned onto the counter. “So… you wanna wrap those flowers up so I can ask my new pretty face on a date?”

“Oh, God, you’re insufferable,” Loki said with nothing but fondness in his voice. “I expect you to take me somewhere nice for dinner.”

Tony winked. “Only the best for you, Lokes.”


	2. Chapter Two??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

When Tony walked into Loki’s little shop that morning, he should have been ready. “And how is my favorite flower shop owner doing today?” Tony foolishly asked Loki when he walked into the shop. The fool. The absolute buffoon. He should have known. The complete and total idiot.

Loki pointed his scissors directly at Tony, stopping him in his tracks. “If one more fucking reporter comes in here this week I swear I will stab you in the throat,” he hissed, eyes narrowed and teeth bared.

Tony took a step back with his hands in the air. “Woah, woah, that bad?”

With an incredibly loud exhale, Loki set the scissors down and replaced them with a small business card. He held it up so that Tony could read it properly. Christine something, reporter for some magazine company, Tony had stopped reading it already. “This woman has come in three days in a row now. Three days, Tony.”

“What was she asking about?”

“Take a wild fucking guess.”

Now Tony laughed. Sex life. Of course that’s what the paparazzi was asking about. He and Loki had been on all of five dates and everyone and their mother was clamoring to know if they were banging or not. Granted, five dates was the most he had ever been on with the same person, but Tony still found it hilarious. He gave Loki a pitying look and walked around the counter to give him half of a hug. Loki refused to turn fully into him. “They’re vultures, Lokes.”

Loki huffed, letting his hands fall to the countertop. “I have an appointment with one of them tomorrow,” he spit out, sounding unbelievably unhappy about that.

“Why?”

“She wouldn’t _leave_ ,” Loki whined, letting himself fall onto the stool he always sat at. “She got here right when I opened Tony. I just got rid of her twenty minutes ago.”

Tony sighed, still standing next to him. This was part of the problem with being in a celebrity relationship. Especially a long lasting one. He rubbed his forehead with a groan. Every person he had a one night stand with had gotten their fifteen minutes of fame, sure, but when he had gone on those three dates with the one girl… He couldn’t even remember her name. Wow, maybe he actually had a problem… What was he saying?

Loki had gotten up. He was out in the flowers now. He looked tired. Tony hated how their relationship was making him suffer.

“Do you want to call this whole thing off?” Tony’s voice was smaller than he had wanted it to be. He knew why, though. It was pretty obvious. He _liked_ Loki. He liked what they had. He didn’t want to end it if he didn’t have to.

Loki was staring at him, head tilted, eyebrows scrunched together. “What?”

Tony practically ran to him. “No, look, no- it- it’s not. I don’t want to end this, that’s not- I mean…” He took in a deep breath. “If being with me is making you unhappy, then it doesn’t matter what I want. If you can’t do this, then we don’t have to.”

After a beat, Loki put his arms around Tony and pulled him into a hug. He just stood there holding him for a minute before he spoke. “I’m fine being with you. I can even handle the people with cameras that follow us to dinners… It’s just that I can’t promise I won’t kill the next person who asks me about your dick.”

Tony laughed so hard he choked on air.

 

* * *

 

Loki came to Tony’s workshop all the time now. He would sit with Tony and watch him work on blueprints for new inventions and then throw them away before the hour passed. He usually would just hover near his shoulder and watch him work. Tony was so used to it by this point he often would scare people by somehow knowing exactly where they were behind him without ever seeming aware they were there. Poor Pepper had nearly fallen over when he had one of his robots reach around her to pass him something.

When Loki came into the shop today, he didn’t come to hover. Tony had expected he would, so when he didn’t, he turned around in his seat to look at him. Loki was poking at one of the piles of paperwork he had on his desks.

“I don’t even get a hello kiss?” Tony called out, pouting and making sad sniffling noises. Loki laughed at him for it.

Flicking over the corner of a few of the papers, Loki rolled his shoulders and said, “I just had my first official interview as Tony Stark’s no longer mystery boyfriend.”

Tony jumped off his seat. “Shit! That was today? Fuck, Loki, I totally forgot!” He scurried over to his side and quickly wrapped himself around him in a hug that was much too clingy. “How was it?”

Loki rolled his shoulders again. “I didn’t kill her, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Oh, thank God.”

“Shut up.” Loki poked at Tony’s stomach. “You owe me ice cream for my restraint.”

Grinning, Tony lowered himself down to look right into Loki’s eyes. “What’d she ask you? Did she ask who tops? Oh my God, she asked if we use toys, didn’t she? Did you tell her about the robots?”

Pushing his hand over Tony’s mouth, Loki made a soft ‘shush’ noise. “There were no robots, now stop with your silly stories.” Tony huffed dramatically, letting his shoulders rise and then slump viciously. Loki rolled his eyes at his antics. “She asked me a lot of questions about my job, how we met, and remarkably few about our sex life.”

“Damn.”

“If you start, I will cover your mouth back up,” Loki warned.

“I’ll lick your hand,” Tony countered.

Smirking, Loki shrugged. “You’ve licked worse.”

“Eeeewwwww!” Tony wormed his way off Loki and made it look like he was brushing himself off. He scrunched up his face and stuck his tongue out comically. He made a big show of shuddering and wiggling like every part of his body was grossed out.

Loki chuckled as he watched him. “Are you sure Peter’s the one in high school?” He went right for teasing, and in response Tony pouted at him.

“Whatever,” Tony snipped, turning away with that same pout on his face. “Has Eunice come into the shop lately?”

Loki smirked. “Yes, actually. She pushed one of the reporters out of my shop for asking me inappropriate questions.”

Tony spun around. “Did she really?”

“She thought the reporter was hitting on me.”

“Oh my God, I love her. I’m seriously adopting her, Loki.” Tony could clearly picture the little woman with her inch thick glasses shoving a reporter out and scolding them for being rude. “Definitely adopting her.” After affirming it to himself once more, Tony moved forward and leaned on his desk to grin at Loki. “So, tell me everything. I wanna know exactly what questions they asked you.”

 

* * *

 

Tony and Loki had been snickering to each other and making all sorts of inappropriate jokes in the shop when it happened. Thor came in asking his brother for help picking flowers.

“You have a date!?” Tony had squealed way, way too loudly when Thor had asked Loki for help. Tony started smacking Loki’s arm. “Loki! Oh my God, Loki! Your brother has a date! Oh my GOD!”

Trying and failing to stop the assault on his arm, Loki said, “Yes, I know, Tony. I can hear him. Yes, yes. Tony- yes, I know- Tony would you stop hitting me?”

“Sorry.”

Turning to his big brother, Loki sighed. “All right, so… What does your date like?”

“Well, uh… I’m actually going out with two people,” Thor said, looking smaller than Tony had ever seen him look ever. “It’s uh… The girl I had asked is bringing her friend along…”

Tony frowned. “That sucks, big guy. But maybe she’s just a bit nervous around you?” he offered, “I mean, you are a pretty big guy.” Thor shrunk in on himself a little when Tony said that.

“Thor is about as intimidating as a golden retriever puppy,” Loki said, getting up from his stool. “So, what is she like?”

“Uh, well, her name is Jane… She’s a scientist… And her friend is named Bruce…”

“Bruce Banner?” Tony asked, perking up immediately. Thor nodded. “And Jane Foster?” Another nod from Thor. Now Tony was bouncing. “I know them! They’re my science buddies!” He hopped off the counter and continued bouncing around. “Bruce is great! He’s got the best ideas! He’s an absolute genius- his studies on gamma radiation are honestly some of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.”

“I am standing right here.”

Ignoring Loki, Tony continued. “And Jane!? Aw, man, she’s one hell of an astrophysicist. Her reports on black holes and interdimensional wormholes are so hot!”

“Again. Right here.”

Tony smiled up at Thor. “So, are you gonna try and talk science with them? Or are you just gonna look pretty for them both?”

“I… Um… I’m not sure…?” Thor looked so confused. He kept looking to Loki for help, but Loki only shrugged and started picking out flowers.

“Why don’t I make two separate bunches?” Loki suggested, pulling out one bunch of flowers that were mostly purple and green in hue and another batch that were mostly warm earth tones. “Since you’ll be going into this knowing that there are two other parties, you may as well try and impress them both.”

Tony sighed dreamily, resting his head against his palm and staring up at Thor. “God, could you imagine it? Thor dating Jane or Bruce… Either one of them would look good with you, big guy. A short brunet by your side…” He hummed, picturing it to himself. “Yup. Either way you’ll make a cute couple.”

Thor was blinking with big wide eyes. “I don’t even know what Bruce looks like,” he mumbled. Tony pulled out his phone and brought up a picture of the scientist.

“Be sure you call them Doctor Foster and Doctor Banner. They didn’t go through all those years of school just to be called ‘Mister’ or ‘Miss,’” Tony said.

“But everyone just calls you Tony,” Thor said, eyes still wide and confused.

Tony waved his hand at him. “Yeah, well, not everyone goes to college when they’re twelve. For me it felt more like high school, so I don’t really think of myself as ‘Doctor Stark’.” He snickered. “God, Doctor Stark, can you imagine? Pff, I wouldn’t even take myself seriously.”

“You don’t,” Loki commented from where he was sniping flower stems.

“True,” Tony agreed, pointing at his boyfriend. “But it would be even worse then.”

Loki smirked at Tony. “Paging Doctor Stark?”

“Exactly!”

 

* * *

 

“I’m telling you, Peter, he’s the expert with this stuff. He knows all the best flowers.”

Loki looked up at Tony’s voice as he came into the shop. He smiled when he saw him leading the now somewhat familiar teenager in with him. He set down the book he had been reading and leaned forward on the counter. Tony waved at him, smile wide and bright. “Hello, Tony,” he greeted.

“Hey, Lokes,” Tony said. He motioned to the boy with him. “Loki, this is Peter. I know you’ve heard me talk about him, but I wanted you to officially meet. Petie, this is Loki. My current flame.” Loki rolled his eyes at the nickname, but gave a small wiggle of his fingers at Peter. When the teen hesitated, Tony gave him a little push toward the counter.

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” Loki said, “Just stab.”

The morbid joke apparently was all Peter needed to relax. He let out a little squeak of a laugh, tried to hide that he laughed, and then let his hand drop from in front of his mouth and smiled. “Hi,” he finally said.

“Hi.”

After a minute of looking shy and sheepish, Peter extended his hand. “I-I’m Peter Parker,” he greeted.

Loki shook his hand with the same smile that had been on his face since the two came in. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Peter. Tony’s told me a lot about you.” Peter looked at Tony quickly when Loki said that, then back at Loki. “In fact,” Loki continued, “Once he starts talking about you, he usually doesn’t stop.”

“Really?” Peter looked so excited to hear that. His entire body had perked up. Loki noticed when he smiled that he had dimples.

“So,” Loki let his gaze slide to Tony and spoke calmly. “Why did you really come into the shop today, hm?”

“Can’t I just want to introduce two of my favorite people to each other with no ulterior motive?” Tony asked, spreading his arms out in an attempt to look more open.

“But Mister Stark, you said you were gonna ask Loki if he would help-“ Tony quickly covered Peter’s mouth before he could finish. He had gotten enough in though for Loki to quirk one brow up and smirk a little bit more harshly at them.

Tony slumped and let go. “All right, all right, you got me. Peter needs a gift for his aunt and I thought this would be the perfect chance to introduce the two of you at the same time.”

“Your aunt, eh?” Loki turned his attention back to Peter. “You think she would like flowers?”

“Well,” Peter stepped forward and began digging through his pocket for his phone. “I had seen one of those flower sphere things online yesterday and I thought she might think that one of those was cool.” He flipped to a photo on his phone of a nearly perfectly round display of flowers. “I mean, I was gonna get her something else, too, but I thought she might like a fun shaped thing of flowers, ya know? Everybody likes flowers.”

Nodding, Loki got to his feet and went to get the bottom for the circular display. The oasis he picked was almost perfectly spherical, but unfortunately they had to have a flat surface to rest on. Peter had exclaimed ‘it’s the squishy green stuff’ when he saw Loki bring it out.

“So, what colors does your aunt like?” Loki began to pull flowers out of their places when Peter told him. He was babbling about flowers after about two minutes. It was so similar to how Tony often got, that Loki had to pause for a moment to look and make sure it was still Peter talking. He grinned at the teen, then smirked up at the inventor. Tony just rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged sheepishly.

“Why’d you grab so many of those ones?” Tony asked as Loki was beginning to push flowers into the oasis. “I thought those meant something bad in flower talk.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Hydrangeas are often picked for flower displays. They’re big, they fill a lot of space, and they have a nice round shape. The meaning behind flowers isn’t always what’s important, Tony.”

Tony stuck his tongue out at him and Loki chuckled at him. “I just think it looks really cool,” Peter said after a while. “I would love, like, a whole table of these at my wedding if I ever got married.”

“Now there’s a thought.”

“We have gone on five dates, Tony,” Loki said, “If you propose to me during our next one I will never speak to you again.”

Tony whined. “You’re no fun.”

“Nope. That’s my thing. I suck the fun out of every situation and keep it for myself.”

 

* * *

 

Peter’s aunt had loved the flowers. He had come barreling into the shop the next day, by himself, and had spent almost an hour telling Loki how much she liked them. It was an odd moment at first, but after a little while Loki had felt perfectly comfortable talking to the teen. He was adorable.

The next time Tony came into the shop he made sure to let him know. “You need to protect him,” Loki ordered. “You keep that baby safe. He deserves the world.”

Tony laughed. A deep, loud, belly laugh. “He really grows on you, doesn’t he?”

“I mean it. If I find out that anything happens to him because of you, I will not hesitate to punish you for it.”

Smiling, Tony put an arm around Loki’s waist. “I know, I know. I wouldn’t blame you, either. He’s a great kid.” Pulling Loki close enough to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, he said, “Speaking of kids…”

“Get your hand off me before I cut it off,” Loki’s words were so fast that Tony couldn’t stop himself from laughing before going for a fake gasp and clutching at his heart.

Loki yanked himself away and went to the door of the shop. He flipped the sign, locked it, and began cleaning up. The two of them were going on their sixth date today. Tony had wanted to go somewhere fancy, but Loki had told him that his mother wanted to be introduced, so tonight was a small family dinner date. Tony had teased endlessly about how six dates was all it took for the family to want to meet him.

“I haven’t had many dates in my life,” Loki admitted. “Mother is just excited. She thinks I’ve finally found someone to spend my life with.”

“Are you saying I look like the settling down type?” Tony teased some more.

After giving him a once over, Loki said, “Yup.”

“Hey!”

Loki grinned at him. “Your playboy days are over, Mister Stark. Soon you’ll be living in the suburbs with your spouse and pets.”

“We would have pets?”

“Of course that’s what you chose to focus on. Come on,” Loki yanked him out of the stool, “It’s time to go. I’m sure mother is waiting by the door by now.”

“Is Thor coming?”

Loki smirked. “Oh, of course. And he’s bringing Bruce.” Tony all but squealed at that.

 

* * *

 

The dinner had been wonderful. Loki and Tony got to have their time with Loki’s mother, Frigga, until Thor arrived. Tony had been so excited to see Bruce that he had almost knocked the poor guy over. Not exactly dignified for a billionaire genius.

“No Jane tonight?”

Bruce shook his head. “Nah, she’s got a presentation. Just me an’ Thor tonight.”

During the actual meal Tony had gotten a little handsy. Loki had almost thrown his drink across the room when he felt Tony squeeze under the table. He had given him such a cold stare, though, that Tony squeaked out a little apology and pulled his hands back up to the tabletop.

“Oh, just look at you two… Both of my boys happy and in love…” Frigga looked like she was going to cry. Loki had told Tony that when Thor first approached her with the idea that he might be dating two people at once she seemed confused, but now at the meal she seemed to realize just how happy he was.

“It’s only our third date,” Bruce had said, face going pink.

Frigga waved him off. “You’re perfect!” She rounded on Tony then. “And _you_! _You_ finally brought my Loki out of his shell! I never thought I would see him so happy.”

“Mother…”

Frigga was determined to embarrass both her boys during the dinner. She was a woman on a mission.

Dinner had been wonderful.

Until Odin came home… Early.

Loki had never talked about his father with Tony. And when he finally met the man, he understood why. There was a very obvious tension between the two of them. The air was thick, their words were short and clipped, and the two hardly spared the other a glance. Tony had never been able to physically see bad blood before today.

Whenever the conversation turned to Loki, Odin would do everything he could to turn it away. He very clearly did not want to talk about his second son. It made Tony’s blood boil. He was more willing to talk about Tony, his son’s boyfriend, than his actual son.

“So you’re making robots to help improve lives?” Odin had asked him.

Tony, who was gripping his spoon so hard his knuckles audibly popped, replied with a smile that didn’t reach past the bottom of his nose. “Yep. Mostly for people with physical handicaps. Actually, Loki was the one who first suggested it,” he pressed on when he saw Odin stiffen and felt Loki’s grip on his wrist tighten a fraction. “He knew I was building robots, but up until I met him they had just been for fun. Loki’s such an empathetic person he immediately knew the robots I was making would make life so much easier for the people out there suffering.”

“Ah, I see… That’s… nice…” Odin took a sip of his wine. Loki squeezed Tony’s wrist once quickly and when Tony turned to look at him, he shook his head as subtly as possible. But Tony’s self-preservation instincts were so far gone by this point that he decided to open his mouth again.

“You know, I never thought I would ever want to get married, but ever since I met your son I’ve found myself thinking about it more and more every day.”

The silence that followed was painful. Tony could feel the way Loki’s grip had completely slackened. He could feel the way his entire body seemed to drop. “Tony…” his voice was hardly more than a breath. A whisper. So quiet he wouldn’t have heard it any other time.

Odin cleared his throat, turned back to Thor, and began talking to him as if the other conversation never happened. Loki excused himself and didn’t come back to the table.

Tony found him sitting at the top of the stairs in the big house. He came up and Loki slid over to the side so he could sit beside him.

“I’m sorry.” The first thing he said to Loki when he sat down was an apology. “I’m so sorry, Lokes.”

Loki sighed and leaned himself against Tony, resting his head on his shoulder. He took Tony’s hand and slid their fingers together. “It’s not your fault,” he said after a while.

“What did I do wrong?”

Squeezing his hand, Loki sighed again. Tony could tell it was a touchy subject and he felt horrible for making it worse. “I’m not actually Odin’s son,” Loki said, finally. “Not by blood, anyway…” He let out a single, bitter laugh. “I was adopted and when I found out I was so angry that I actually ran away and went and had my name legally changed back to what it was when I was born.”

“Lokes…”

Shaking his head, Loki told Tony it was okay. “No, Tony, it’s all right… It’s not your fault… I just… I got it changed back, obviously… I had grown up as Loki, I couldn’t change that… But Odin’s never treated me the same since…” Tony placed a kiss on Loki’s forehead and Loki smiled sadly at it. “It’s my own fault, really… I just wish they had told me…”

Tony let his eyes wander the space around them. This was where Loki grew up. Did it look as unfamiliar to Loki as it did to him? Did he feel weird being there? He wanted to know what Loki was feeling. He wanted to know so he could make all the bad feelings go away.

“Me too, Lokes… Me too…”

 

* * *

 

Loki had refused to let Tony pay for everything for him. “You do not need to pay my bills, stop offering. No, I can buy my own groceries. Tony, I do not need a car, I live right down the road from my shop.” He knew he was trying to do what he normally did when he was in relationships, and probably trying to make up for the mess that was the family dinner, but Loki was not going to let Tony spend all his money taking care of him.

Even when Tony was in the middle of trying to negotiate deals, organize meetings, and come up with new designs, he was offering to do something else for Loki.

“All right, that’s it.” Loki had enough. He grabbed the phone from Tony and immediately began arguing with the businessman on the other end. “No, Mister Stark does not have time to come in. His schedule is already booked, you’ll have to talk to his assistant, like he already told you, and make an appointment.” He hung up before the guy could get a word in, bent forward to flick through Tony’s emails, answered as many as he could, canceled his next appointment, and yanked Tony up out of his chair.

“Hey, hey, what’s going on? Where are we going?” Tony tried to wriggle out of Loki’s hold, but the flower shop owner just held tight and pulled until Tony was out of his workshop and on the couch in his living room. He grabbed a big blanket and wrapped it around the inventor, ignoring his squawks of protest, and placed an order for pizza.

When it was all over and Loki was sitting beside Tony on the couch, both eating quietly, Tony spoke again. “Seriously, Lokes, what was all that about?”

“You were trying to do too much.”

“Well, yeah, I own a company. That’s a daily occurrence.”

Loki scowled at him. “You were trying to do everything. For the next two hours you’re going to sit here and let me do everything.”

“But-“

“No.” Loki’s gaze was hard and his voice was firm. “If you’re allowed to worry about me doing too much, then I’m allowed to do the same to you.” To his surprise, instead of arguing with him, Tony _beamed_ at him and proceeded to bury himself further in the blanket with his pizza.

“I got the best boyfriend ever.” He was making the cutest face. Loki had to cover his own face with his hand because he knew he was bright red. “I won the boyfriend lottery. I got the best one. I win.”

“Yes, yes, stop your bragging and enjoy your lunch.”

“Next time you do this, you gotta bring me flowers, okay?” Tony asked, not noticing the big spot of sauce on his face.

Chuckling, Loki scooted closer to him on the couch. “Any requests?” he asked, draping his arm across Tony’s shoulders.

It took Tony all of three seconds to make his decision.

“Red roses.”

“Oh, God, gross, never mind, I take it back, I want to break up!”

Tony snickered up at him. “Love you too, Lokes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Another chapter of "why did I make this flower shop AU at two in the morning"


	3. Somehow Chapter Three Appeared!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I still don't know why I'm writing this. I just keep imagining more situations where the flower shop thing could be used.

Tony was rambling again. Loki was so used to it by this point that he didn’t even need to listen. One of Tony’s friends just had a baby. Or… another baby. Did he say that was baby number three or four? God, that sounded like a lot of kids. Loki could only imagine how big the house needed to be with all those kids running around. He and Thor used to fight over space and it was just the two of them!

“And anyway, his name’s Nathaniel and he’s the chubbiest baby I’ve ever seen and we gotta go bring Clint and Laura flowers before they get discharged from the hospital because otherwise we’re bad friends and I cannot be a bad friend. You hear me, Loki!? I can’t!”

Loki chuckled at Tony’s ranting. “Yes, I hear you, Tony. I hear you.” He was already pulling out baby’s breath from it’s little vase. He wanted to be cheesy today, sue him. He was using baby’s breath and tons of little tiny flowers.

“So are you doing blue flowers? Cuz I already bought a bunch of balloons and a blue elephant and I don’t think I can return them before we go see Laura,” Tony squished himself up against Loki’s back as he bundled up some of the flowers in his arms.

Laughing again, Loki continued pulling up flowers and slowly dragging his boyfriend around the shop to get what he needed. “Yes, Tony, for the fifteenth time, I’m doing blue flowers.”

“I just wanna be sure, cuz we gotta coordinate, ya know?”

“The baby isn’t even going to remember the flowers.”

Tony squeezed around Loki’s waist. “No, but Clint and Laura will and I don’t want them remembering how your flowers didn’t match my balloons!”

Shooting a little smirk at him over his shoulder, Loki asked, “Is this just you trying to get me to think about having kids again?” Before Tony could reply, Loki said, “Because if so, I’m breaking up with you right now.”

Tony squeezed harder. “Mean!” He huffed and rested his chin on Loki’s shoulder. “What do you have against kids?”

“Oh, nothing, I love kids,” Loki said, grabbing the last of his flowers, “It’s just you I have a problem with.”

“ _Mean!_ ” Tony whined now, letting go of Loki and slumping onto the counter.

 

* * *

 

Loki was overjoyed when he got to hold the baby. He may have even shed a tear or two. He couldn’t help it, Tony was right! He had the chubbiest little face!

“You didn’t have to get all this, Tones,” Clint said from where he stood by his wife’s bedside. “Seriously, I don’t think all these balloons will even fit in the car.”

“Oh, hush,” Laura patted his arm with a disapproving pout. She turned her head to smile at Tony and Loki. “The gifts were all very thoughtful and we appreciate that you took the time to get them for us and for Nathaniel.”

Tony had been wiggling his finger in the baby’s face. He paused to look up at the new parents and smiled. “Ah, it was nothing. I just wanted to make sure you guys had the hospital room with all the best stuff.” Tony squeaked when Nathaniel grabbed his finger in his tiny baby fist and pulled it to his mouth to suckle at. Loki laughed and whispered about him being a baby magnet. Tony was too proud to find that insulting.

“So, is Nat coming to see him today?”

Clint laughed at that question and Laura hit his tummy for it. When his laughter subsided, Clint said, “Nat’s been pouting for a month since we found out it was gonna be a boy.”

“She really did want one of our kids to be named after her,” Laura sighed.

Loki finally handed the little baby back to his mother and grinned when Nathaniel seemed to wave goodbye at him. He leaned into Tony and rested his hand over his heart. A long, deep exhale left him and Tony reached his hand over to squeeze Loki’s.

“Still not interested in having kids?” Tony whispered into Loki’s ear.

Scoffing, Loki only replied by pulling their hands up and kissing Tony’s knuckles.

 

* * *

 

Once again Loki had Tony wrapped in a blanket burrito on his couch. He had dragged the inventor out of his lab and held him down onto the couch until the fast food he ordered arrived. As soon as he had a plate of food in his hands, Tony practically melted into the blanket and the cushions and snuggled up next to Loki.

“One of these days I’m not going to be here to drag you out of that room,” Loki commented as he ate.

Shrugging, Tony said, “If it’s not you, it’s Rhodey or Pepper.” He sent a wicked smile Loki’s way. “I definitely prefer you, though. Get some eye candy while I’m being manhandled.”

Loki rolled his eyes at him. “Oh, honestly.” He didn’t move away from the snuggly man, though. He just sat with him and ate and watched pointless garbage on TV. It was really nice.

After munching loudly on an egg roll, Tony spoke. “Have any more reporters been in the shop lately?”

“A few,” Loki sighed, shifting his weight a little so Tony was propped against his chest. “Mostly I just tell them I don’t do interviews while I’m working and they go away.”

“If not then you can sick Eunice on ‘em!”

Loki laughed at Tony’s joke. Probably too hard judging by the way Tony slipped and had to readjust himself against him.

“She’s not an attack dog, Tony.”

“She’s adorable and small and I love her,” Tony said. “If I ever got to meet my grandma, I’ll bet she was just like her.”

Chuckling, Loki began rubbing the pads of his fingers against Tony’s scalp. The pleased hum that got him made him smile. “From what I’ve heard, our grandmother was like Thor but female.”

“Giant buff grandma!” Tony had jumped forward and pumped his fist into the air. “Hell yeah! That’s fucking badass!” He turned to grin at Loki. “You gotta show me her picture! I _need_ to see the giant buff grandma! Like, right now!”

Loki rolled his eyes again. “All right, all right. Give me a minute to ask mother to send me a photo.”

“Yeessss!!”

It took a little while, but eventually Loki’s phone lit up with an image of a huge woman with giant arms and short, curly blonde hair. She had makeup on for the time period and had one of those flapper dresses and Tony was kicking his feet, biting his hands, and squealing with joy.

“ _YEEESSSSSSS!!_ ”

Loki could only laugh as Tony flailed. He looked like a kid at Christmas. “Impressed?”

“She looks like she could beat the shit out of fifty guys without ruining her makeup!”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

 

* * *

 

Some way or another, Tony had roped Loki into a date night that included Peter Parker. At first the idea of the kid being there had made Loki nervous and uncomfortable, but after a little while it felt normal. The two of them were still able to walk and hold hands, share kisses, and pay attention to Peter without a problem.

They had chosen to go to a carnival in another state. Tony had them all use his private jet and the trip took less than an hour. Currently Loki was watching as Tony and Peter tried to play ring toss and win a giant stuffed dragon.

“No, no, you gotta look at the physics of it,” Tony explained to Peter after landing his fifth consecutive ring on a bottle. “Calculate the weight and judge exactly how much energy you need to put into your toss.”

“Isn’t this technically cheating, Mr. Stark?”

“Shh, do you want the dragon or not?”

Peter thought about it for a moment before nodding and saying, “I do want the dragon. All right, let’s give this another shot!”

While they had their fun, Loki walked over to a food booth and got sweets. Kettle corn, caramel apples, and fried dough for the three of them to share. He was pretty sure they’d go into a sugar coma after eating all this.

He saw them approaching him with two of the giant dragons. “Are you kidding me?”

“Look, babe! I won this one for you!” Tony held up the giant green monstrosity and shook it with a smile.

“Tony why.”

“Isn’t it cute?” Tony shook the dragon again, still smiling.

“ _Tony why_.”

“Ooh! Kettle corn!” Peter tucked his dragon under his arm and Loki handed him the giant bag. He stuffed three handfuls into his mouth before he began to actually eat it. “Fanks, Woki!”

“Hey, don’t talk with your mouth full,” Tony scolded, reaching for one of the apples Loki had.

“Forry.” Peter swallowed and said again, “Sorry.” The teen looked around for a minute before pointing. “Look, they have a tunnel of love! You guys should go on it!”

Loki looked in the direction he pointed and groaned. A giant pink tunnel with an opening the shape of a heart. Advertisements about pictures for anyone who rode. Tony looked excited by the idea. Loki groaned louder.

“Aw, babe, you don’t wanna?” Tony had put his arm around Loki’s shoulder and gave him a little squeeze.

“Not particularly, no.”

“Why not? Too cheesy?”

“No, cheesy is fine,” Loki said, “But I can see the fake flowers from here and part of me wants to burn them to the ground.” Tony choked for a second before doubling over with laughter. Even Peter was laughing.

Once his laughter died down a bit, Tony stood back up, wiped at his eyes, and said, “God, I love you so much,” before placing a soft kiss on Loki’s cheek. “Let’s go ride the one that looks like a spinning Beyblade.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	4. I have no self control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lovey dovey nerds.

Tony was an overdramatic son of a bitch. Loki knew this. They were two peas in a pod. Both enormous divas. At all times.

It was with that knowledge that Loki prepared for their first Valentine’s as a couple. He knew how Tony would react to what he had planned, but honestly, he would react with just as much excitement.

“Lokes, I thought we were going back to my place after dinner,” Tony commented as Loki dragged him down the sidewalk.

Loki only looked over his shoulder so Tony could hear him properly. “No, I said my place. At least three times.”

“Oh.”

Squeezing Tony’s hand, Loki offered him a smile. “Don’t worry, it’s good you forgot. It’ll make this surprise even better.”

“You got me a surprise?!” Tony squeaked. He jumped forward to catch up with his boyfriend. He was almost jogging next to Loki’s longer strides down the road. “I thought the dinner and the show was plenty! I can’t believe you actually got me something else!” He moved to give Loki a hug while they walked. “What did I do to deserve such a great boyfriend?”

“Not sure, but when I figure it out, I’ll tell you,” Loki said, “Now.” He unlocked the first door and then led Tony up the stairs to his apartment. The stairwell had always been a bit too small to be comfortable. It left pretty much everyone who was in it with a sense of claustrophobia. If one person was going down at the same time someone else was trying to go up they would have had to give in and wait for one to leave first.

Loki reached his door and pushed inside to hold it open for Tony. The inventor had gone in with a big dopey smile on his face until he finally looked inside. All the lights in the apartment were off, save for several dozen electric candles. The warm, flickering light shone on the room with an air that would have been spooky if it weren’t for the trail of rose petals going from the front door toward another inside.

Tony was standing in the doorway, staring with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. Carefully, Loki moved him forward, closed the door behind him, and led him over the path of rose petals. They reached the other door, Tony already knew it was Loki’s bedroom, and Loki pushed it open. Tony’s little gasp at the sight of the room was exactly what Loki had been hoping to hear.

The rose petals led up to the bed and were absolutely _covering_ the surface of the mattress. There were pink sheer drapes hanging over the bed that practically dripped down to the floor in a glittering wave. There were even more of the false candles around the room, offering the perfect mood lighting for the two of them. The entire room reeked of the petals and there were pink and red pillows on the bed, a few heart shaped, but it was perfect.

Without saying a word, Tony spun himself around and _yanked_ Loki down into him for a kiss. He didn’t pull back until he physically had to for air. And when he did pull back, he remained as close as he could to Loki.

“They’re _red_ ,” Tony rasped at him in a hushed voice.

Grinning, Loki whispered back just as quietly, “That is your favorite color, isn’t it?”

“I love you.” Tony pulled Loki back in for another, much more heated, kiss and dragged him to the bed.

 

* * *

 

Tony had cooed and babbled about ‘the most romantic Valentine’s Day of his entire life’ to anyone who would listen. Somehow that still ended up being Loki, even though he was the one who had made the romantic night happen in the first place.

“Honestly, babe, I had thought about doing the same thing at my place,” Tony said openly, “I was just worried you’d think it was too cheesy.”

Loki was baking, but he paused to smile at Tony. “I’ve told you. Cheesy is fine. I like cheesy. Especially when it’s you.” He added the last bit with a wink and Tony started gushing about how great he was all over again.

Peter’s aunt had invited them, among many others, to a sort of barbecue party at her apartment that night. She told them they didn’t have to bring any food, but subtly hinted that she would appreciate it if they did anyway. Tony had already bought three plates of food that he had being sent to the Parker residence. A cheese plate, a veggie plate, and a meat plate because Loki was very insistent that Thor was a bit of a carnivore. It was those fancy thin slices of meat, though, so it was less gross an image. Loki was baking a dish that his mother had taught him how to make. She had called them drops. He didn’t know the actual name anymore, but Tony seemed to like them if the large amount he had already stolen from the cooling racks was anything to go by.

“You are insufferable,” Loki scolded, smacking Tony’s hand away from the sweets.

“They’re yummy!” The inventor whined. “And I’m hungry!”

“You are supposed to be saving your appetite for May’s party.”

“I’m going to eat everything in that house.” Tony snatched one last pastry before finally giving in to Loki’s mom aura and left the rest alone.

 

* * *

 

He was true to his word when they got to the party. Tony ate something from every single plate of food. He and Thor seemed like they were kind of having an eating competition. Loki had picked up on it first, noticing how Tony and Thor both kept going and snagging from whatever plate the other had just eaten from.

“Oh, this should be entertaining,” he commented, nudging Bruce to look in the direction Tony was going.

Bruce looked confused. “What? What’s entertaining?”

“My brother and my oaf of a boyfriend,” Loki said, motioning his glass toward where Tony was shoving a sample of something into his face while Thor absently ate the same thing and talked to Jane and May and some other person that Loki didn’t know or care to know. Tony shoved another into his mouth when Thor looked at him.

Bruce took a single step forward and cocked his head to the side. He stood there and watched Thor do the same thing back to Tony a few moments later and he put his face in his hand with a low laugh. “Oh my God, they’re not.”

“They _are_ ,” Loki said, smirking. “Want to place a bet on who vomits first?”

“It’s gonna be Tony,” Bruce said, watching him eat. He sent a glance over at Loki. “I’ve known Thor for a few months now, I’m not taking a bet when I know the exact outcome.”

Loki laughed aloud at that comment. Doubled over, one hand on his knee, Loki laughed good and loud and didn’t give a single solitary fuck how many people turned to look at him to see what was so funny.

“I underestimated you,” Loki said once he finally had his diaphragm under control again. “You know my brother so well.”

“The guy could eat an entire horse and still be hungry.”

Loki nodded. “I’m sure you can imagine the bills whenever mother would buy our groceries for meals.”

“God, you’re lucky your family was rich. Otherwise he woulda eaten you out of house and home,” Bruce watched his boyfriend staring at Tony and stuffing meat and cheese into his mouth. “He is going to be so constipated later.” At that comment, Loki snickered and they toasted their glasses.

 

* * *

 

Loki was rubbing circles against Tony’s back as they sat, hunched over, in the bathroom of Tony’s place. Tony was clutching the toilet bowl and had been throwing up for a solid half hour now. Loki really badly wanted to say ‘I told you so’ but he realized the only person he could have said that to would have been Bruce. And Bruce obviously did not live with them.

“Fuuuuuck,” Tony whined, lurching forward for a moment to spit into the toilet. “What the fuck was I thinking?”

“Not sure, but when I figure it out, I’ll let you know,” Loki mumbled, sitting there and rubbing Tony’s back. Bruce had told him about the Valentine’s date he, Thor, and Jane had all had. It sounded nice. They went out and did their own little firework show, the two scientists using different powders to change the colors of the flames and explosions. It sounded like something Thor genuinely would enjoy and he was happy that his brother had two people who knew him so well.

Eventually Tony felt well enough to release the porcelain and let his upper body drop onto Loki’s lap. He had his eyes closed and looked miserable, but Loki leant down and gave him a little peck on the lips anyway.

When he pulled away he could see Tony smiling. “Babe, I just threw up, that’s gross,” he said, his smile all teeth and cheekiness. Loki simply gave him another little peck. Tony, with a giggle far too cute for someone like him, playfully swatted Loki away. “Seriously, Lokes, nasty. I don’t wanna get you sick.”

“Well I suppose if I do get sick you’ll just have to take care of me, won’t you?”

Tony seemed to notice the twinkling in his eyes, because he was quickly grinning back up at him and pulling him down for more kisses.

  

* * *

 

Loki did get sick.

He had to close up the shop for three days and stay in bed eating nothing but bland foods and drinking ginger ale and teas to help soothe his stomach.

Tony had been with him from the first ‘I don’t feel well’ text. He had been the one buying the food and drink for Loki. He actually had just returned from another trip to the corner store, hat and hoodie and glasses hiding as much of his face as possible. He pushed into Loki’s apartment with two bags full of stuff.

Loki sent him a sad looking little smile as he brought him a box of saltine crackers. “And you say _I’m_ the good boyfriend,” he teased, eating a little bit before reaching for his tea.

Tony stopped him with a coo. “No, no, Lokes, that’s probably cold by now, lemme make you a new one.”

Loki watched him from his spot on his couch, wrapped in one of the giant blankets Tony had bought for him since they started dating. Tony set the kettle and turned back to Loki while he waited. He sent Loki a coy little smile and Loki laughed at him quietly.

“Can you be any more adorable?”

Tony beamed at him. “I can try!” He brought back the new cup once it was done, kissed Loki’s forehead, and snuggled up next to him on the cushions. “How ‘bout we watch a movie?”

“Anything but the Iron Giant again,” Loki teased. “I know it’s your favorite, Tony, but a guy can only handle so much.”

“Fine,” Tony huffed. He passed Loki the box of the saltines again and they both munched on them while they started up their movie.

Resting his head on Tony’s shoulder, Loki sighed and let his eyes fall closed with a smile. “I love you,” he breathed.

Tony turned his head as much as he could to give Loki a kiss on the top of his head. “Love you too, sicky.”


	5. Suffer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, worm??

When Loki had seen the muscular figure walk into his shop he had originally thought it was Thor. He very nearly addressed him as brother before he actually looked up and realized it wasn’t him.

“Oh, uh, hello,” he tried to cough in the middle of his greeting, hoping it seemed natural.

The tall, muscular blond, who had stopped just inside the doorway when he arrived, looked over at him and smiled a little bit nervously. He had a bit of a shy aura around him which didn’t seem to fit him, in Loki’s opinion. He was almost as big as Thor, he had no reason to be so shy.

Well, maybe he did, but Loki still felt like the nervousness around this man didn’t suit him.

“Hi,” the man said, walking over toward Loki’s desk. His hair was a lot shorter than Thor’s was currently, but a few locks hung into the man’s forehead and made him look younger than Loki suspected he was. After fidgeting in front of Loki for a moment, the man rubbed the back of his neck, twice, and spoke again.

“So, um… What are some good flowers to say I’m sorry?”

Loki’s face stretched into a grimace. “Bad breakup?” he asked, knowing all too well why someone would want apology flowers. “Or did you forget an anniversary?”

The man’s face went pink and he kept his hand firmly on the back of his neck. “Ah, ha,” he made a noise that sounded like a laugh that wasn’t actually a laugh and kicked his feet around. “Kind of closer to the first, actually… Just uh… Wanted to make things right with an ex, you know?”

Loki smiled at him. “I see.” He got up and started walking towards his many displays. “Traditionally, purple hyacinth are used to signify an apology. Tea roses can also signify wishing to remember something for an eternity. Perhaps you can try to tell them you’re sorry things ended the way they did and you’ll remember them fondly?”

The look of surprise on the man’s face was something that made Loki grin. Clearly he hadn’t been expecting Loki to actually know what flowers meant.

“Though, tea and purple are not a very pleasant color combination. Perhaps we’ll stick with the hyacinth, add some sweet pea blossoms, and violets. If your ex does any research they’ll take the meaning as a positive apology and if they don’t then they should still like how the bouquet looks.”

With a few quiet ‘thank you’s from the blond gentleman, and a near tumble over the floor mat, Loki set to work bundling up the flowers.

“I hope your ex accepts your apology. You seem like an okay guy to me.”

 

* * *

 

Tony was already eating when Loki got to his place. He had an entire slice of pizza hanging from his teeth. It made Loki smile and he gave him a quick kiss as he made his way to get his own slice.

“Sorry, Lokes, I would’ve waited but my stomach felt like it was going to start digesting itself if I did,” Tony apologized quickly before shoving the slice further into his mouth to take a bigger bite.

Shaking his head, Loki walked to make himself a cup of tea. “It’s fine, Tony. I’m just glad to see you’re eating without me having to tie you down.”

From around his mouthful of food, Tony shouted, “Fuck off!”

When Loki went to toss out the teabag, he paused. There were flowers in Tony’s garbage. Fresh ones. “Tony?”

“Hwah?”

“What are these flowers in your disposal?” He cocked his head to the side, looking at them curiously. He knew those flowers. Purple hyacinth… Sweet pea… But… It couldn’t be.

Tony scoffed loudly and Loki heard him snap his slice down onto his plate. “Nothing,” he spat, plopping down onto his couch. “Just my ex being a fucking dick.”

Now Loki lifted his gaze to Tony. He had his feet propped up on his glass coffee table and was holding his plate with his pizza close to his body. He had a bitter frown on his face and was biting down way too much into his mouth.

Oh.

Oh!

That man from the shop earlier today was Tony’s ex!

“What was his name?” Loki asked.

“Steve,” Tony bit back, looking disgusted having to say the name. “Fucker cheated on me with his best friend and he has the nerve to send me ‘I’m sorry’ flowers.”

“How long ago?”

“Like four fucking years,” Tony snarled. “Fucking dick. Four God damn years and now he finally has the balls to apologize.” He kicked his table. “God, and my morning had been going so well, too, until he fucking turned up.”

Loki walked to Tony slowly. He set his tea down on the table after he had kicked it and then carefully settled himself down on the couch. He ate for a moment, watching Tony stew in his anger.

“He made damn sure to keep the whole thing a complete secret while we were dating, but here he fucking shows up _out in the open_ with a giant bouquet of flowers so the whole world can see me with another man and write some stupid article about it!” He physically threw his plate across the room after that. He threw his napkins as well, but they hardly did more than flutter to the ground. “Piece of fucking shit cheats on me and then tries to make it look like I’m cheating on you!”

Aaahhh. So it was more than just seeing an old flame that had Tony so upset. It made sense now. Loki had seen Tony talk like an old friend with several of the people he had dated in the past. He hadn’t ever seemed particularly bothered when talking to some of them, even the ones he told Loki that he hated when they were alone.

“Perhaps he was being genuine,” Loki suggested, sipping his drink, “It has been four years. Who knows if he has changed for the better since you knew him.”

Tony had his arms crossed in front of himself and was scowling ahead at nothing. Loki gave him a placating kiss on the cheek and offered his own slice of pizza to help ease his anger. Tony took it with an unhappy huff of air.

“He just never thinks of how I feel,” Tony spat. “Never did then, clearly doesn’t now.” He chomped at the slice. “He always thinks he’s doing things right and that everyone else feels the same way he does. He’s just _so noble_ and everyone should be able to see how he’s doing things from the goodness of his heart and that just makes it all okay! That always fucking makes it okay again! Because he,” Tony shoved Loki’s slice back down onto his plate, “Because _he_ didn’t _mean_ to hurt anyone’s feelings! He didn’t _mean it_ so everyone should just forgive him for doing it at all!” He picked up the plate and threw it as well. Loki was glad they were only plastic and not ceramic or the mess would have been much worse.

But now he understood.

He understood Tony a little bit better.

And he wrapped his arms around him and pulled him into a tender embrace. He ran his fingers through Tony’s hair, the pads of his fingers rubbing slow circles against his scalp, and placed several slow kisses against his forehead. A small pang of guilt made his arms feel shaky where they held Tony, but he ignored it and kept him close. He had made that bouquet for Tony’s ex. He hadn’t known who he was at the time, but he still made it.

Would he not have if he had known?

He wasn’t sure.

In the end all he could do was hold him and kiss him and tell him he was sorry.

 

* * *

 

“What made you choose flowers, anyway, Loki?”

Loki blinked at the question. He and Tony were both in bed and he had very nearly fallen asleep when the question was whispered into the silence.

He turned over and looked at Tony. He was staring in a way that Loki knew was unfocused. He was just staring, not processing what he was seeing, and waiting for his other senses to give him what he wanted. He sometimes got that way while he was inventing.

“Truthfully?” Loki spoke in a hushed voice, huddling a little bit closer to Tony. Tony nodded, still not focusing his gaze on anything. Loki smiled and tugged one of Tony’s hands into his own. “Because of my mother.” Now he saw Tony blinking and slowly pulling his eyes up to look at him. “She had such a beautiful garden when I was growing up… She taught me what so many flowers meant and showed me so many beautiful things.” He kissed the knuckles on the hand he held. “When I was in the darkest moments in my life I often thought of her… And the memories I had of her. I thought of the happiness all her flowers brought her and myself when I was young. And one day… when I had thought I would be ending it all… I picked up a flower and thought of her and what flowers she would have to bring to my funeral.”

Tony had closed his eyes and was sucking in shaky breaths. He squeezed Loki’s hand tight and didn’t let go.

“I… I started building because of my dad,” Tony said after a moment of silence. “It… it was what I was expected to do. What I was supposed to want to do…”

“Did you?”

Tony nodded, eyes shut tight. Tight lines stretched across his forehead. “Yeah. Yeah, I loved it. Still do… but everything I ever did was never good enough for dad. I could make something no one else ever thought of and he would wonder why it had taken me so long to make it at all. I could improve something one hundred and fifty percent and he would say it wasn’t good enough until it was two hundred…” He pulled Loki’s hand up to press it against his forehead. Loki let him. “My… my mom… She wasn’t around enough.” He moved his other hand up to cradle Loki’s. “Whenever I built something, she loved it. She always smiled when I showed her what I made. Her and… and Jarvis…” Loki remained silent when he paused. He would let him take as much time as he needed.

“Jarvis was our old… well, butler I guess… He was never that to me… He was the first real friend I ever had. He was always helping me. Encouraging me. Telling me about all the things he knew I could be. He and mom both would see me build a robot and where Howard saw faults and failures, they saw quirks and personality. Honestly… if it hadn’t been for them, I would have given up on inventing a long time ago.”

Loki smiled sadly at his boyfriend.

“It seems we both know what it means to be a disappointment to a father.”

Tony let out a bitter little laugh. “Guess that must be why I like you so much.”

“Must be.”


	6. A Proposal??! Not in my house!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's really short, but I kept thinking about it--- shut up
> 
> don't yell at me!!

“Hey, Lokes, do you have any Stephanotis in your shop?”

Loki paused in the book he was reading when he heard Tony’s question. He slipped a bookmark in and turned to look at his boyfriend. Seeing the familiar way he tugged at his shirt and refused to look at him, Loki knew something was up immediately.

“That depends,” Loki replied, setting the book down completely, “Do you know what Stephanotis traditionally means?”

Tony’s cheeks were a deep pink color. “Maybe,” he mumbled out.

With a chuckle, Loki got to his feet and waltzed over to his boyfriend. He set his hands on either side of Tony’s waist and lowered his head a little to look into Tony’s eyes properly. “Traditionally, they mean happiness in marriage,” he said, leaning in to whisper, “You wouldn’t happen to be planning on proposing to me, now would you darling?”

Tony was bright red now.

“Well, I- I mean. We’ve uh, you know we’ve been together over a year now and I uh,” he was stammering and trying to avoid eye contact. It was precious. “And, well, that’s longer than I’ve ever been with anyone in my entire life put together and I just. Well, I just thought. I mean…”

Pecking a tiny kiss to the tip of his boyfriend’s nose, Loki smirked. “If you’re planning on proposing, I expect a proper proposal. Cheesy jokes, horrible nervous energy, maybe during a dinner date where you have it all planned out and then botch it and end up just asking me when we get home anyway.”

Tony laughed.

“Oh, ew, you want the whole movie proposal cliché? Geeze, now I’m not so sure I wanna marry you.” He was wrapping his arms around Loki as he teased him. Sashaying closer, Tony placed a little kiss to Loki’s cheek. “What if I wanted to do something else to propose?”

“What if I proposed first?”

“Don’t you dare,” Tony hissed. “It took me so long to ask you out and you ended up doing it for me, you gotta at least let me have this one.”

Kissing his nose again, Loki smiled. “If you don’t hurry up, I might not let you.”

“God, you’re such an ass,” Tony snarked, “I love you so much.”

“Love you too.”


	7. ;)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ;)  
> ;)  
> ;)  
> ;)  
> ;)  
> ;)

“Babe,” Tony called from the doorway for what must have been the fifth time. “Babe, I know you want your flower crown to be perfect but if you don’t go right now we’re going to be late.”

Loki, adjusting said crown on his head, huffed at himself in the mirror. “There’s just something missing…”

“Babe.”

“Don’t rush me, Anthony.”

Tony laughed. “Ooh, Anthony this time? I must really be in trouble!” He sauntered over to Loki’s side. Taking a red flower from his own crown and switching out one of the white ones in Loki’s, he smiled at his work. “How ‘bout that?” Loki pouted at it a little bit before adjusting the tiny red rose. Tony tucked the white flower up into the empty space in his own crown. “I like it,” he said, looking at the two of them in the mirror.

He rested his hand on Loki’s shoulder then with a soft smile. “But seriously, babe, we cannot be late to our own wedding, it’s like one of the least professional things you can do.”

Loki snorted at that. “I could just leave you at the altar if you like.”

“You are so mean to me,” Tony whined, placing his hand over his heart now. “Hurts. Hurts right here, Lokes.”

“It’ll heal,” Loki said, standing up. Taking a few deep breaths, he adjusted his suit a little bit before setting his jaw. “All right… I’m ready.”

This was it. The big day. Everyone they loved was out there waiting for them. They had each agreed that they were going to walk each other down the aisle for this. Neither of them had ideal relationships with their fathers. Tony’s wasn’t even alive anymore, but just the idea of his dad giving him away made his skin crawl. Loki’s parents would be attending, but this moment would be his and his alone. Peter and Tony’s oldest friend James Rhodes stood up at the altar on Tony’s side and Thor stood at Loki’s. Naturally, there were flowers everywhere. It wasn’t a big ceremony, though there were paparazzi parked outside no matter how hard they tried to keep tight lipped. Just the few close friends and family in their seats. That was all they wanted. (Though Tony did like to tease Loki about being a diva.)

When it came time for their vows, Loki very nearly broke Tony’s fingers he was holding his hands so tight. “You,” he said, eyes watery, “Are the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever met and I love you so, so, _so_ much.” Tony laughed at him and pecked his nose with a kiss. “I have never felt so loved. So safe. With… with anyone before. I can open up with you and I can be myself with you. You drive me crazy, Tony Stark, and I’ve never met anyone more perfect for the job.”

Tony hadn’t been able to hold back a few tears as Loki spoke to him about how much he loved him. When he finished he took out note cards with shaky hands. After trying to read them three times he threw them aside and said, “Fuck it.” His little outburst had giggles drifting around the small room. “Loki, I love everything about you. I love that you know way too much about flowers, I love that you can pull me out of a funk without batting an eye, I love how you talk and walk and the way you scrunch up your nose when I say something stupid. You fit into my life after I spent so long trying to make it an impossible puzzle to complete. I just… I just really, really love you.”

“You had an entirely different speech prepared, didn’t you?” Loki asked, pressing his forehead to Tony’s.

Tony shrugged with a little laugh. “Eh, being prepared is for losers.”

When they shared their first kiss as a married couple, Tony was pretty sure Thor shouted loud enough to shake the walls. He couldn’t really hear it over the beating of his own heart, but he distinctly felt the vibrations in the air. They let Peter throw the bouquet, because he had said it was the only wedding thing he had ever seen in movies that actually looked fun, and it ended up hitting Bruce in the head. Frigga looked at her other son with raised brows at that. It made Loki’s face light up when Thor went completely red.

Tony squeezing his hand brought Loki back to him. The warmth and affection in his eyes was enough to bring fresh tears to his eyes. They shared another kiss.

“I adore you, Tony Stark.”

“I dunno, I don’t think I’m all that great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~
> 
> the 
> 
> end
> 
> ~  
> (Officially. If this story continues after this it will be another work that I will link back to this one.)

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I made this but wow does it exist now.


End file.
